Let the Wookiee Win
by slightlytookish
Summary: What happens after the Marauders watch Star Wars.


A/N: According to IMDB, _Star Wars_ was released in the UK in December 1977, so the Marauders are 17 years old.

Near the hedge-lined path that led to the Potters' house crouched four boys, each one pointing a wand at an umbrella. There was no sign of snow on the cold, late December evening but there were a number of large puddles on the dull winter grass, reminders of the steady rain that had fallen all day.

"I've decided that I no longer want a motorbike," Sirius announced. "I want the _Millennium Falcon_." With a flick of his wand one umbrella vanished and was replaced by a lightsaber. It glowed faintly blue at one end.

Three more lightsabers appeared in quick succession. Peter eyed his uncertainly. "This won't chop off my arm, will it?" he asked.

"Not with that protective charm Moony added," James said.

"Yeah, the anti-maiming one," Sirius said, tucking his wand into his back pocket as he leapt to his feet. He gave his lightsaber a wave, frowned, and reached for his wand again. A moment later he smirked and gave his lightsaber another swing.

It began to hum.

"Show off," Remus muttered, but soon the other lightsabers were crackling with noise as well.

"Muggles build spaceships," James said, brandishing his lightsaber and doing a complicated move that would have been more impressive if he didn't stop in mid-motion to adjust his glasses. He glanced at Sirius meaningfully. "If they can do it – _without magic_ – why can't we?"

A slow smile crossed Sirius' face, the kind he usually reserved for the planning of a really good prank. His and James' minds were clearly already at work, and so was Peter's. "We could transfigure a radiator," he said dreamily.

"And one of those Muggle machines," Sirius added, waving his hand vaguely as he tried to remember the word. "What do you call that thing your mum uses to clean, Remus? A vicar?"

"A vacuum," Remus said cautiously. He was beginning to regret that he ever suggested going to the cinema.

"Cheers, Moony," Sirius said with a grin.

Remus felt a twinge of worry somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach, the sort of nervous flutter he felt whenever he was unable to stop his friends from doing something incredibly stupid (which, if he was honest with himself, happened every day with disturbing regularity). Youthful confidence and certainty were apparent on all three of their faces; they clearly believed that they could build a spaceship that existed only in a film. Remus knew they wouldn't be dissuaded if he informed them that it had taken the Muggles years of study and experimentation to build a spaceship, and that all the transfigured radiators and vacuums in the world would not have quite the same effect.

A distraction was in order, Remus decided. "But where would you keep it, Padfoot?" he asked. "It wouldn't fit in your flat, and even if it did you wouldn't want to ruin the carpet." Sirius was absurdly proud of the orange carpeting.

But Sirius appeared unconcerned. "I'd live in it," he replied. "I wouldn't need the flat any more."

Remus sighed wearily. It was terrifying enough to imagine Sirius on a flying motorbike (and he had imagined it, ever since Sirius had started researching the various charms and spells he would need), but the idea of a spaceship, however rudimentary, even if it was made from transfigured Muggle appliances…

"What do you say, Moony?" Sirius said, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "You could be my Wookiee."

Remus glared at him coldly.

"Er, co-pilot?" Sirius amended with a winning smile.

Remus wavered. "Well, it would need a Disillusionment Charm, at the very least," he said grudgingly.

"It'll be brilliant," Sirius said. "And you know it." He winked at Remus in his infuriatingly charming way and then charged at Peter with a yell, swinging his lightsaber like a mad thing.

With a shriek, Peter slipped on the wet grass and dropped his lightsaber, which inexplicably turned back into an umbrella. "Oi, wait! No fair!" he cried, snatching up the umbrella and desperately waving it at Sirius for a few moments before he turned and fled.

Sirius chased Peter around a nearby tree and as Remus watched he suddenly realised that James had gone far too quiet, which, knowing James, was rather worrisome. He turned around slowly, expecting a lightsaber to the gut or a pounce from a Potter.

James grinned when he saw that he had Remus' attention at last. "_En garde_!" he cried, and leapt forward.

"I don't think Jedi knights say– _oof_." Remus staggered back, holding his side. James' lightsaber had sailed through the air and smacked him right in the ribcage. It nearly knocked all the breath out of him, and he teetered for a moment, struggling not to fall.

James cackled.

Remus took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. This was _war_.

A fierce battle ensued. Quiddich had given James excellent reflexes but Remus was clever and had watched a lot of old swashbuckling films as a child. With a bit of finesse he eventually managed to knock both James and his lightsaber to the ground. It rolled to where Peter stood clutching his now-battered umbrella and watching with eyes that darted eagerly between James and Remus. Sirius whistled, impressed.

Glasses askew, James held his arms out dramatically. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine," he intoned solemnly, doing his best impression of Alec Guinness. It wasn't very good.

Remus shook his head in clear disapproval. "If you're going to go about quoting Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said severely, though his mouth twitched at the corners as he fought a smile, "you have to do it _right_. You're meant to vanish after that line, Prongs. It's a shame you don't have your Apparition license yet."

It was a low blow. Over the summer, James had failed his first attempt at getting his Apparition license when he splinched his hair ("An improvement, that," Sirius had said at the time, eyeing the hovering patch of unruly hair as he sympathetically patted James' unevenly shorn head. He'd been soundly hexed for his efforts). James had another test scheduled for the day before they returned to Hogwarts in January, but the other three had all passed on their first try and never missed an opportunity to tease him about it.

James jumped up, glaring. "_Accio_ lightsaber!" he cried.

Remus didn't wait around. Grinning, he took off, racing down the path to the safety of the house as his friends followed, their laughter echoing behind him. He never heard Sirius turn to James and say, "Don't you get it, mate? _Let the werewolf win_."


End file.
